2022-05-12 04:23:03
I am Barabash Vitaliy Oleksandrovych, nicknamed "Benya." It is difficult for me to speak due to severe injuries, contusions, and serious illnesses, so my brother in arms will speak for me on behalf of all Ukrainian Jews who are here with me in the Azovstal factory.
Everyone needs a peaceful sky. With these words, I will begin my appeal to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the Knesset, the Israeli public, journalists, the Bain Stern Shulman Synagogue in Kryvyi Rih, and Rabbi Leron Ederi. I hope that Julius Edelstein, Julia Malinowska, Eugene Sova, and Alex Kushnir will hear our appeal as those closer to Ukraine. As well as I am here, in Mariupol, Ukraine, in the rubbles leftover from Azovstal, there are Jews like me, like you. We remember how our Ukrainian ancestors suffered from the genocide of Stalin and how our Jewish ancestors suffered from Hitler.
Today, our common souls have faced a new tragedy that unites and restores the efforts of two past dictators in the face of Putin.
I address on behalf of all the Jews who are surrounded today by the ruins of Azovstal. I'm injured, and I can record this video. Others are currently on the battlefield, defending every piece of land that the Ukrainian people have shared with our ancestors.
For the third month in a row, the Russians have been destroying everything concerning our common (Jewish and Ukrainian) roots and shared history. We have always been united by two terrible historical tragedies, but now we are simply obliged to fight because it is our land and country. Ukraine has never turned away from the Jews, so we believe that Israel may not turn away from the Ukrainian people but stand side by side against the Russian invaders, who brought a new tragedy.
Now that we are here, we need Israel's help in withdrawing the entire Mariupol military garrison, and we call for rescue.
You, like no one else, have the power to do that. We, like no one else, have hope in you. We are already waiting for you. We are already writing history.
https://t.me/botsman_ua/17623
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